Contingent Nature of Prophecies/Promises:
And inasmuch as thy
brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of
the Lord. And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be
made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren. For behold, in that day that they
shall rebel against me, I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they
shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me
also. And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a
scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance. (1 Nephi
2:21-24)
And it came to pass that I, Nephi,
said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded,
for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save
he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the
thing which he commandeth them. . . . Wherefore, let us be faithful in
keeping the commandments of the Lord; therefore let us go down to the land
of our father's inheritance, for behold he left gold and silver, and all manner
of riches. And all this he hath done because of the commandments of the Lord. .
. . And it came to pass that after this manner of language did I persuade my
brethren, that they might be faithful in keeping the commandments of God.
(1 Nephi 3:7, 16, 21)
Counterfactual knowledge (cf. D&C 137):
For he knew that Jerusalem must be
destroyed, because of the wickedness of the people. For behold, they have
rejected the words of the prophets. Wherefore, if my father should dwell in
the land after he hath been commanded to flee out of the land, behold, he would
also perish. Wherefore, it must needs be that he flee out of the land. (1
Nephi 3:17-18)
And it had come to pass that my
father spake unto her, saying: I know that I
am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should
not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had
perished with my brethren. (1 Nephi 5:4)
And it came to pass that I spake
unto my brethren, saying: Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be
faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier
than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or
even than his tens of thousands? Therefore let us go up; let
us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the
waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came
through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow
and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea. Now behold ye know that this is
true; and ye also know that an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye
doubt? Let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers,
and to destroy Laban, even as the Egyptians. (1 Nephi 4:1-3)
And now, when I, Nephi, had heard
these words I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the
wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments they
shall prosper in the land of promise. (1 Nephi 4:14)
And again, I knew that the Lord
had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the
records according to his commandments. (1 Nephi 4:17)
